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Yeah it ruined numerous relationships in my life. My brother in law turned into a total luddite and liar due to my tech career. He foams at the mouth with stori

by jarsin 2y ago

Yeah it ruined numerous relationships in my life. My brother in law turned into a total luddite and liar due to my tech career. He foams at the mouth with stories about Indian's replacing us all. I've thought a lot about it and I believe it's because tech is one of the few careers that has a ton of freedom. In normal job markets we can switch companies easily. We can go raise money and start our own companies etc. Most other careers are do x, y, z then you might have your choice of 1 or 2 employers that you then are mostly stuck working for. I think a lot of people are very threatened by that freedom.

nixpulvis 2y ago
I want to live in a world where tech workers aren't the only people with this freedom. How can I as a software engineer by trade help make this world is the question? The talent pool would be improved if not everyone felt they had to become a techie just to live a comfortable life. Though I will say the resurgence in interest in the trades is a good sign, even if it also often comes with a certain rejection from education in general... Idk, lots of big problems and questions here. P.S. I'm sorry your brother can't be happier for the good things in your life.
- jarsin 2y ago
  I grew up in a homebuilder family and I saw enough as a teenager on job sites to know that the trades are way more screwed up than people think. Very tough getting your foot in the door with an honest builder as a plumber etc. There are so many barriers and tons of nepotism in the trades. I'm sure its much worse today with all the wall st builders dominating the game. You can't even buy lots in the master planned communities sprouting up everywhere unless you can build out an entire subdivision.
  - elzbardico 2y ago
    Nepotism. Cut-throath and a lot of time dishonest competition, life-long health issues. People who haven't come from blue-collar families tend to see the trades through rosy glasses. There's a reason my father worked like a horse so I could study. And while I am pretty competent with manual labor, it would have completely killed him if I followed his foot-steps.
- elzbardico 2y ago
  The solution for that does not start with making Software Engineers proletarians worthy being mentioned on Karl Marx's Capital Volume 1. I hate people that think that the solution for unequal outputs lie on making other people worst to come to their level.
  - hellotomyrars 2y ago
    You say that but I don’t think it’s entirely fair. The tech industry is often living in an entirely different world. Hearing SWEs in places like SF and Seattle who are personally bothered and upset because homeless people have the gall to exist and they have to see them makes me want to scream. Also SWE often just have the worst attitudes and egos to rival surgeons who think they’re gods. Real talk: a lot of them are working on shit that doesn’t matter to anyone and is a solution looking for a problem. SWE are very often not producing anything of value to anyone. The entire startup industry is predicated on the hope that you’ll exist long enough to get a giant payday from the big boys. The person who fixes your toilet did real work with a tangible benefit. The person who takes care of your grandmother by cooking/bathing/shopping for her is doing real work that has a tangible benefit. They don’t get paid anything comparable to a SWE who is making Uber for dogs or the 15th messaging system that Google will shut down after a year. Maybe SWEs are overvalued for their output compared to other people.
    - elzbardico 2y ago
      Software engineers will usually build whatever investors decided to give them money to build. So far, at least for the VCs and the Wall Street people those things you call useless seem to be pretty much in demand. If you don’t like and I have to somewhat agree with you here, you should complain with the folks that cut the checks not the ones cashing them. I do a lot of manual work at home and even at friends for free. I can build a house, I can solder stuff, fix my own plumbing and yes, it is hard work, but most of those things don’t have a big barrier of entry. So, supply and demand apply. Recognizing homelessness as a problem and feeling threatened and disgusted by it is not an exclusivity of software engineers, and if you talk to blue collar folks you’d be surprised to find that they see the problem in a far more heavy handed way than our average googlezen. Compulsory rehab would create frissons of indignation in our average habitats while being absolutely popular amongst construction and factory workers.

by jarsin 2y ago

nixpulvis 2y ago

I want to live in a world where tech workers aren't the only people with this freedom. How can I as a software engineer by trade help make this world is the question? The talent pool would be improved if not everyone felt they had to become a techie just to live a comfortable life. Though I will say the resurgence in interest in the trades is a good sign, even if it also often comes with a certain rejection from education in general... Idk, lots of big problems and questions here. P.S. I'm sorry your brother can't be happier for the good things in your life.

jarsin 2y ago
I grew up in a homebuilder family and I saw enough as a teenager on job sites to know that the trades are way more screwed up than people think. Very tough getting your foot in the door with an honest builder as a plumber etc. There are so many barriers and tons of nepotism in the trades. I'm sure its much worse today with all the wall st builders dominating the game. You can't even buy lots in the master planned communities sprouting up everywhere unless you can build out an entire subdivision.
- elzbardico 2y ago
  Nepotism. Cut-throath and a lot of time dishonest competition, life-long health issues. People who haven't come from blue-collar families tend to see the trades through rosy glasses. There's a reason my father worked like a horse so I could study. And while I am pretty competent with manual labor, it would have completely killed him if I followed his foot-steps.
elzbardico 2y ago
The solution for that does not start with making Software Engineers proletarians worthy being mentioned on Karl Marx's Capital Volume 1. I hate people that think that the solution for unequal outputs lie on making other people worst to come to their level.
- hellotomyrars 2y ago
  You say that but I don’t think it’s entirely fair. The tech industry is often living in an entirely different world. Hearing SWEs in places like SF and Seattle who are personally bothered and upset because homeless people have the gall to exist and they have to see them makes me want to scream. Also SWE often just have the worst attitudes and egos to rival surgeons who think they’re gods. Real talk: a lot of them are working on shit that doesn’t matter to anyone and is a solution looking for a problem. SWE are very often not producing anything of value to anyone. The entire startup industry is predicated on the hope that you’ll exist long enough to get a giant payday from the big boys. The person who fixes your toilet did real work with a tangible benefit. The person who takes care of your grandmother by cooking/bathing/shopping for her is doing real work that has a tangible benefit. They don’t get paid anything comparable to a SWE who is making Uber for dogs or the 15th messaging system that Google will shut down after a year. Maybe SWEs are overvalued for their output compared to other people.
  - elzbardico 2y ago
    Software engineers will usually build whatever investors decided to give them money to build. So far, at least for the VCs and the Wall Street people those things you call useless seem to be pretty much in demand. If you don’t like and I have to somewhat agree with you here, you should complain with the folks that cut the checks not the ones cashing them. I do a lot of manual work at home and even at friends for free. I can build a house, I can solder stuff, fix my own plumbing and yes, it is hard work, but most of those things don’t have a big barrier of entry. So, supply and demand apply. Recognizing homelessness as a problem and feeling threatened and disgusted by it is not an exclusivity of software engineers, and if you talk to blue collar folks you’d be surprised to find that they see the problem in a far more heavy handed way than our average googlezen. Compulsory rehab would create frissons of indignation in our average habitats while being absolutely popular amongst construction and factory workers.